Although the White House has announced its disapproval at Benettons’ new ad campaign there has been no denial of the romance that has been slowly blossoming. White House spokesman Eric Schulz wrote: ‘The White House has a longstanding policy disapproving of the use of the president’s name and likeness for commercial purposes.”

No denial then.

Tensions between the two world leaders have been rising in recent weeks after Obama announced that he was sending 2,500 US troops to be based in Australia. This is presumably to remind China that America exists and hasnt forgotten that there is lots of oil in the south China sea and to give the troops a snorkeling holiday.

China has recently signed an agreement with other South Asian countries setting out some guidelines as to what the laws of the sea should be. There have been a number of disputes in the South China Seas in recent years over oil and land rights. The US are remaining ‘neutral’ but are backing up the Phillipines in an argument over the Spratly islands.

The argument seems to stem from a debate over who has the oldest map. China claims it found some really old ones.

For more research into the South China Seas disputes, please watch this educational clip: